Two students were killed and four injured when a gunman opened fire in a building on the University of North Carolina Charlotte campus.
The Charlotte Observer reports that the shooting took place late Tuesday afternoon "in a classroom setting" in the Kennedy Building.
One person was arrested in the shooting. The Associated Press identified him as Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22.
Three of the four injured are in critical condition, police said.
“This is the worst day in the history of UNC Charlotte,” University Chancellor Phil Dubois said. “This shakes us to our very core.”
The two students killed were identified Wednesday as Ellis Parlier, 19, of Midland, and Riley Howell, 21, of Waynesville, Dubois said.
UNCC student Drew Pescaro was among the injured but had since been released from the hospital, according to his fraternity and the student newspaper. Student Emily Houpt was identified by Dubois as one of theinjured. He also said that one of the injured students is from Charlotte and another from Saudi Arabia.
Police received a call Tuesday about a man armed with a pistol who had shot several students, said Jeff Baker, chief of the UNC Charlotte Police and Public Safety Department.
Campus police officers responded and took a suspect into custody. “He never had time to get out of the room,” Baker said.
Baker said he didn’t know how many students were in the area where the gunfire erupted. He declined to say if the suspect targeted certain students or fired at random.
After shots rang out, campus officials urged everyone in a tweet to “Run, Hide, Fight. Secure yourself immediately.”
Campus police said they were meeting to prepare for a concert to be held on campus Tuesday night when they learned of the shooting.
The suspect’s grandfather, Paul Rold of Arlington, Texas, told the Associated Press that Terrell and his father moved to Charlotte from the Dallas area about two years ago after his mother died.
Terrell was attending UNC-Charlotte, Rold said, but never showed any interest in guns or other weapons.
“You’re describing someone foreign to me,” Rold said. “This is not in his DNA.”
The university has more than 26,500 students and 3,000 faculty and staff. The campus is northeast of the city center and is surrounded by residential areas.
